Newfoundland and Labrador Cultural Groups

Canada

Newfoundland and Labrador

Cultural Groups

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According to the 2001 Canadian census, the largest ethnic group in Newfoundland and Labrador is English (39.4%), followed by Irish (19.7%), Scots (6.0%), French (5.5%), and First Nations (3.2%). See also, Demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Acadians

• Acadian Genealogy and Family History, Library and Archives Canada

Online Records

• Généalogie Acadienne Database--Search Engine The biggest Acadian genealogy database. More than 800,000 individuals are available.
• GenealogyQuebec.com, the Drouin Instiute’s genealogical research website, offers two research tools dedicated to Acadian genealogy. ($)

• 1673-1784 - The Drouin Collection Database, a collection of parish registers (baptisms, marriages and burials) from Quebec, Acadia, as well as parts of Ontario, New Brunswick and the United States. The collection also contains Acadian censuses from 1673 to 1784. ($)
• 1621-1849 - The Acadia Families Tool This tool contains family files based on the Acadian parish records mentioned above. In total, the tool contains 96,000 family files from 1621 to 1849 and is equipped with a search engine which allows searches by last name, first name, date and parish. In addition, the original records are attached to the family files, allowing the information contained in them to be viewed and verified.($)

• Acadian Family Names of the 18th Century

This list of approximately 300 family names was drawn from parish records, census records and other documents from Acadia/Nova Scotia in the first half of the 18th century. All Acadian civilian families known to have lived in the colony at any time between 1700 and 1755 are included. This list does not include the families of the French garrison which served in Acadia.

• Who's who in Acadian/Cajun genealogical research
• 1671-1809 - Acadian Censuses at WikiTree 1671-1809
• 1671-1752 - Acadian Censuses at Acadian-Cajun Genealogy and History, 1671-1752
• 1732-1955 - Acadian church records : 1732-1955
• Acadian church records index : with annotations
• 1757-1946 - Acadia, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1757-1946], index and images, ($). List of Acadian parish registers in the Drouin collection
• Acadian census and church records

Basque

In 1497, European explorers and fishermen from England, Portugal, France, Holland and Spain (mainly Basques) began exploration of Newfoundland. Basque sailors were whaling and fishing around Newfoundland beginning in 1525 and ending around 1626. Basque Canadians are Canadian citizens of Basque descent, or Basque people who were born in the Basque Country and reside in Canada. As of 2016, 6,965 people claimed Basque ancestry.

• The Basque

First Nations

More than 100,000 Newfoundlanders have applied for membership in the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band, equivalent to one-fifth of the total population.

Irish

As early as the middle of the 16th century, Irish fishermen from the south of Ireland frequently traveled to Newfoundland for part of their catch. Between 1770 and 1780 more than 100 ships and thousands of people left Irish ports for the fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador. These migrations were some of the most substantial movements of Irish people across the Atlantic in the 18th century. Over the years they created a distinctive subculture in Newfoundland and Labrador and their descendants carried on many of their traditions. In certain places around the province, Irish culture is still richly evident. Newfoundland and Labrador has often been dubbed the “most Irish place outside of Ireland”.

Loyalists

Given the Newfoundland colony's isolation from the more southern British Thirteen Colonies in North America (and also from the still loyal colony of Nova Scotia, which provided a buffer), it did not become involved in their colonial rebellion of the 1770s. After the American Revolutionary War ended in 1783 with the independence of the United States, Newfoundland Colony became part of British North America. The Crown resettled some Loyalists in Newfoundland, but most were given land in Nova Scotia and present-day Ontario.

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